Family Reunion
A kitace drabble for @superxkids.
Words: 1,578
The idea’s been on my mind for a while and I finally got it out. I hope you like it friend!!
Kit was dead to Jamie long before he was actually dead. Not because Jamie was mad at him or anything like that, but because their parents had thought it would be easier if Jamie didn’t know the truth. Kit might have fought them on it, but Jamie was doing well in school and seemed happy enough with his life. Kit thought he was better off staying with their parents, so he didn’t push.
Part of him wishes he had, now. But he’s not sure Jamie would have been better off, not sure he’d be safer now. He’s tried to check in on his baby brother once or twice, but he’s never managed to actually do it. It’s too hard and he thinks he’s too weak.
But he’s gotten the hang of letting other people see him. He’s reunited with his former roommates and introduced them to Ace. She’s dragged him along to meet her friends and to meet the only family she has left. So it’s time for him to do the same, to introduce her to the only biological family that matters. (He won’t admit it, hasn’t said anything to Ace or to them, but the thieves are his real family now.)
There are a few perks to being dead, it turns out. One of them is the lack of a heart-beat and he appreciates that he can’t feel his thundering away in his chest. He knows his stomach would be in knots if he still felt that sort of thing. But despite the lack of physical symptoms, he still feels nervous about this whole thing.
He won’t say it, but he wishes he could hold her hand.
Ace has to be the one to knock. Kit would do it, but he doesn’t wanna burn any excess energy, considering the amount of effort it takes to reveal himself to… well, anyone other than her. Jamie is in college now; Kai and Ace helped Kit track him down. Kit guesses their parents are still paying for things, based on how nice the apartment building is, but he can’t say he blames him.
It’s weird when Jamie opens the door. He offers a confused, but polite smile to Ace, who gives him her trademark grin in response. She starts to offer a greeting when Jamie’s eyes find Kit and, well, he looks like he’s seen a ghost. And seeing as he has, Kit can’t blame him for that either. He feels like he’s seeing one too, if he’s being honest.
It’s been years since he’s seen his baby brother and Jamie’s not really much of a baby anymore. Taller, maybe taller than Kit. His cheeks have lost the baby fat and Kit’s never seen him with facial hair. It’s just some five o’clock shadow, but it’s still the sign that his brother’s growing up. He’s sure their expressions are mirrored. He’s sure Ace will tell him about it later.
“Kit?” Jamie’s voice cracks as the word escapes, despite it being barely above a whisper.
He forces a smile. “Hey, Jamie.” He’s not sure what else to say, looks at Ace, remembers why he came here. “And, uh, this is Ace. My girlfriend. I wanted you to meet her, you know?”
Jamie spares another glance at Ace, tries to offer a smile, before his gaze is back on his brother. “Where have you been? What the fuck?”
“Long story. Can we come in?”
He purses his lips and Kit can’t blame him for being mad. He hasn’t mentioned being dead, so now it just looks like he bailed and left the younger man to deal with their parents by himself. And, well, he did, at first, but now? Not so much.
Jamie offers a nod, opens the door a bit wider, steps out of the way. Ace follows Kit inside. He doesn’t need to use the doorway, but one step at a time.
They sit in the living room. Well, Ace sits. And Jamie sits. If you look closely, Kit hovers, but only if you know what you’re looking for.
“I am dead,” he starts, because Kit is blunt and this is how he handles things. Ace elbows him, probably both to illustrate the point and to remind him to be a little more gentle with his baby brother. He launches into the whole story, glossing over the handful of years where he was actually alive but their parents lied about it. He’ll tell Jamie about that one day, but that day’s not today. Today is mostly to check up on Jamie and to introduce him to Ace, because she’s important and he deserves to know about her.
“So you were the only one who could see him at first?” he says, studying Ace.
She nods. “We think it has to do with the numbers, maybe? But we’re not really sure.”
Kit can see that Jamie has questions about that, but he doesn’t really want to get into how Ace’s powers work.
His gaze falls back on Kit and honestly, he’s never been so nervous around his little brother in his life. “So what took you so long to swing by?”
He shrugs, reaching for Ace’s hand and just letting his own float above hers. It’s comforting in its own weird way. The best they can do, he supposes. “Just waiting for the right time? I had to figure out a way for you to see me, first. And then I had to figure out if I really wanted to haunt my little brother.”
“I’m taller than you.” Kit’s brows furrow in confusion at the response and Jamie elaborates, “I’m not exactly little anymore.”
Ace laughs and the sound has Kit relaxing a little, drawing a smirk to his lips. “Yeah, well, you’re always gonna be small stuff to me. Jesus, you had a growth spurt though, didn’t you?”
He nods, looking back at Ace again. “Yeah. Seems like we both missed a lot, huh?”
“You have no idea,” Ace answers and this time it’s Kit who’s laughing.
“Sounds like you guys have had some adventures.”
“She’s trouble,” Kit says, grinning over at Ace.
“Oh, so it’s my fault?” she teases.
He puts on his most innocent face. “What trouble can a dead guy possibly get into?”
Jamie snorts. “Even I don’t believe you’re staying out of trouble without her.”
Kit shrugs, unable to deny that and changes the subject to something simpler, brings up school, tries to learn about his brother’s life. Jamie’s studying law, apparently, and wants to become an environmental lawyer. He hasn’t told their parents and won’t, until he graduates. They’ll probably stop paying for school if he does. Kit doesn’t blame him for keeping that one a secret. Kit wouldn’t blame him for keeping any of it secret.
Jamie asks about Ace, about how they met, about how the whole ghost/living person thing works. She explains the pun of her name, that it doesn’t matter that he’s dead-- even if it would be nice if they could at least hold hands. She gives him the abridged version of their meeting story, which is almost as weird as the full version, really. He’s not sure Jamie understands all of it, but he still nods along and listens to what she has to say. They play a board game, because it was something they did when they were kids. Kit tells him Ace will win. She does. She says she didn’t cheat. Kit’s not sure she can actually ignore the numbers completely, even when she tries. But he can’t read her mind-- thank god that shit didn’t follow him to the grave-- so he’ll never really know. It gets late; they decide to head home. Kit promises to visit more often. Jamie says he’d like that.
He comes back a few days later, while Ace is busy doing something with Cham. He doesn’t knock and walking through the wall scares the shit out of poor, unprepared Jamie. He apologizes for the broken cup and he’d clean it up if he could, but Jamie’s left to pick up the mess.
“Knock, dude. Knock or you’ll give me a heart-attack.”
“Sorry. I’ll work on it.” He watches for a few minutes as Jamie mops up the liquid before beginning to sweep up the glass. “Did you like her?” he finally asks, the question soft.
Jamie pauses, looking over at his brother. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you care about anyone that much.”
He shrugs. “Ace is… special.”
“So I noticed,” he answers, resuming the sweeping. “She seems… wild. But so are you.”
“Think she’d make a good sister-in-law?” he wonders.
“You’re dead; you can’t get married,” he answers, frowning slightly and looking over at Kit once again. The broom continues sweeping without Jamie bothering to touch it. It seems he’s gotten the hang of the telekinesis better than Kit got the chance to.
“Logistics. I’ll worry about it later. I do think I’d like to call her my wife one day.”
He smiles, a soft laugh escaping. “Mom and Dad would hate her.”
“Mom and Dad hated me.”
“I’d like to get to know her better, but yeah. I think I could get used to calling her family.”
Kit smiles brightly at that. It’s weird to think that Jamie’s opinion still matters, but it does. It matters a lot and he’s glad to know his baby brother approves, glad they made this trip in the first place.